This invention relates to surgical tool holders, and more particularly, to holders of rotary surgical cutting tools.
Surgical tools and their respective holders have to be kept clean and sterile before any use in a hospital environment in order to minimize risk of transfer of disease or infection from patient to patient following the emergence of certain “prions” that are not killed by normal hospital sterilization and thus need to be physically removed through washing and rinsing. A surgical tool, for example for preparing for the fitting of a hip prosthesis, works in a medium which causes considerable soiling of the tool and of the tool holder. Despite the importance of doing so, the thorough cleaning of these devices is difficult. Surgical tool holders of the prior art are designed such that washing and rinsing are generally not an effective way of cleaning the tool. This is due to the small spaces left between component parts which allow only minimal access by cleaning agents.
Further, among the many different styles of reamers used by surgeons in orthopaedic surgical operations, there are two that are particularly pervasive, yet which present different interfaces to the holders, thus not permitting a single reamer holder to be able to fasten to the two different interfaces. This requires that the two reamers each have a dedicated holder, which adds to the bulk and expense of surgical tool kits.
What is needed therefore is a surgical tool holder which is quickly and simply disassembled for cleaning and sterilization. Still further, what is needed is a dual reamer holder capable of holding the two different styles of reamers which are pervasively used in orthopaedic surgery.
The surgical tool holder of the invention has a shank having first driveable end and second coupling end, a coupling device mounted on the coupling end, and a locking mechanism. The coupling device has at least two pairs of bayonet interfaces spaced apart from the central axis. Each interface is made up of at least a portion of a slot having a two-tiered opening transverse to the central axis. The two-tiered opening is of a form so as to be able to receive corresponding elongated structures of at least two types of reamer tools, at the selection of the user. The corresponding structures are elongated in a direction substantially perpendicular to the central axis.
In another aspect of the invention, the locking mechanism in made up of an annular capture component, a spring, a locking sleeve which slides on the shank, and a locking device. The capture component is mounted so as to slide along the shank and includes two pairs of longitudinally protruding pins, the matching pin to the pair being positioned 180 degrees apart. In a preferred configuration, the four pins are spaced apart evening on a circle centered on the axis of the shank.
The locking device cooperates with the capture component so as to lock the tool onto the interface. The spring biases the capture component in a locking direction and bears on the locking sleeve. The locking sleeve is disengageably lockable to the shank via a connection device. The connection device is preferably a bayonet mechanism.
The object of the invention is to enable quick disassembly for cleaning and component sterilization.
Another object of the invention is to provide one holder capable of holding the two pervasively used hollow reamers.